An Omani criminal court has sentenced five nationals, including a former prayer leader and his two teenage sons, to death for the premeditated murder of three gold merchants, legal sources said Tuesday.

Habib bin Jumaa, 46, his two sons Mohammed and Ahmad and their young accomplices, Faisal bin Halal bin Salim and Najeeb bin Mahfouz bin Said, were handed the death penalty on Monday, the sources said.

The court also sentenced a third son of Habib bin Jumaa, 16-year-old Musaeb, to five years in prison as he was classified as a minor.

The six suspects lured the gold merchants to a farm in Barka, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Muscat on September 4 by convincing them they would meet a major client who wanted to buy gold worth 500,000 dollars, before murdering and robbing them.

The sources said the verdicts will be reviewed by Oman's Grand Mufti, or religious leader, as well as Sultan Qaboos, who has the final say on whether the death penalty is carried out.

Death sentences, which are not common in the sultanate, are carried out by firing squad – MUSCAT (AFP)